The present invention relates to vending machines and method for vending bottles and more particularly to a simple, low cost vending machine and method for sequentially vending bottles which are supported in an upright position only at a top portion of the bottles. The vending machine includes a planar dispensing rack having a plurality of elongated slots therein for storing and dispensing bottles from the dispensing rack to a dispensing station from which bottles may be removed from the vending machine. Each of the slots include a pair of substantially parallel spaced apart side walls one of which is adjustable to accommodate bottles of varying width and which terminate at one end in an opening which is larger than the top portion of the bottles supported in the elongated slot to enable bottles which move from the slot into the opening to fall from the dispensing rack to the dispensing station. A pivotable gating member and a method of controlling the gating member is provided to control movement of bottles from the slot to the opening.
Vending machines are well known for vending articles such as bottled soda and other beverages. Many known prior art vending machines cost in the range of $3,000 to $5,000 and include complicated and costly mechanisms for storing and dispensing bottles.
Known mechanisms in the prior art have been utilized to dispense bottles which are supported in an upright position only at a top portion of the bottle. However, such known prior art mechanisms are both costly and complicated. The known prior art such as the xe2x80x9cNeck-Glidexe2x80x9d system sold by H and S Beverage Merchandising in Englewood, N.J. or the xe2x80x9cNektrackerxe2x80x9d sold by Mead in Atlanta, Georgia, require the use of complicated injection molded tracks to support and dispense bottles. The prior art injection molded tracks cannot be adjusted to accommodate bottles of varying width without removing and replacing the tracks. In addition, the devices such as sold by Mead and H and S Beverage Merchandising only store and dispense bottles in contrast to a vending machine which is operable to store, dispense and vend bottles when coins or a credit of a predetermined value are received in the vending machine. Other known mechanisms such as the typical chest type soda vending machines of the 1950""s require costly vending and storage mechanisms and thus do not provide a simple low cost apparatus for vending bottles.
The present invention provides a simple, low cost vending machine for vending bottles which are supported in an upright position only at a top portion of the bottles and which is adjustable to accommodate bottles of varying size.
The present invention provides a new and improved vending machine for vending a plurality of bottles which are supported in an upright position only at a top portion of the bottles including a storage cabinet having a dispensing station therein, and a planar dispensing rack located in the storage cabinet having at least a single elongated slot for storing and dispensing bottles from the dispensing rack. The slot includes a pair of substantially parallel spaced apart side walls which terminate at one end in an opening. The pair of substantially parallel side walls are spaced apart a distance which is less than the diameter of the top portion of the bottles which are supported in the elongated slot and the opening at the one end of the slot is larger than the diameter of the top portion of the bottles which are supported in the slot to enable bottles which move from the slot to the opening to fall from the dispensing rack to the dispensing station. A pivotable gating member is provided for controlling movement of the bottles from the slot to the opening. The gating member is pivotable between a blocking position in which the gating member prevents movement of bottles in the slot to the opening and dispensing position in which the gating member allows movement of the next bottle to be vended from the slot to the opening. A locking mechanism is provided for locking the gating member in its blocking position. A coin mechanism is connected to the locking mechanism for activating the locking mechanism when coins of a predetermined value are received in the coin mechanism. The coin mechanism is actuated to unlock the locking mechanism to enable the gating member to pivot to its dispensing position in which the next bottle to be vended moves from the slot to the opening to enable the bottle to drop to the dispensing station.
The present invention further provides a new and improved vending machine for vending a plurality of bottles supported in an upright position only at the top portion of the bottles including a storage cabinet having a dispensing station therein, a first planar dispensing rack located in the storage cabinet having a plurality of substantially parallel elongated slots therein for storing bottles and dispensing bottles wherein each of the plurality of slots includes a pair of substantially parallel spaced apart side walls which terminate at one end thereof in an opening with each of the pair of spaced apart side walls being spaced apart a distance which is less than the diameter of the top portion of the bottles supported in the elongated slots to prevent bottles from falling from the elongated slots and each of the openings at the one end of the slots have a diameter which is larger than the diameter of the top portion of the bottle supported in the slots to enable bottles which move from the slots to the openings to fall from the openings to the dispensing station. A plurality of gating members, each of which is associated with one of the plurality of slots, are provided for controlling movement of bottles from the associated slot to its opening at one end thereof. Each of the gating members is pivotable between a blocking position in which the gating member blocks movement of the next bottle to be vended from the slot to the opening and a dispensing position in which the gating member allows movement of the next bottle to be vended from the slot to the opening. A plurality of locking mechanism are provided for locking each of the gating members in their blocking position. A coin mechanism is provided and connected to the locking mechanisms for actuating a selected locking mechanism when coins of a predetermined value are received in the coin mechanism and the coin mechanism is actuated to actuate the selected locking mechanism to enable the associated gating member to pivot from its blocking position to its dispensing position in which the gating member engages the new next bottle to be vended in the associated slot after the next bottle to be vended moves from the slot to the opening and drops to the dispensing station.
Still another provision of the present invention is to provide a new and improved vending machine as set forth in the preceding paragraph further including a second planar dispensing rack located below said first planar dispensing rack and having a plurality of substantially parallel elongated slots therein each of which terminates at one end thereof in an opening for storing and dispensing bottles from the second planar dispensing rack. The plurality of slots in the second planar dispensing rack are substantially aligned in a vertical direction with the plurality of slots in the first planar dispensing rack.
A further provision of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method of vending bottles from a vending machine in which a plurality of bottles are supported at a top portion of the bottle in the slot in an inclined dispensing rack using a pivotable gating member which is selectively engageable with a locking member which prevents pivotable movement of the gating member to control the sequential movement of bottles to be vended through the slot in the inclined dispensing rack under the influence of gravity including the steps of providing a slot in an inclined dispensing rack for supporting the top portions of bottles which includes an opening at one end through which the top portion of the bottles can pass when a bottle is dispensed, supporting at a top portion a plurality of bottles to be vended in the inclined dispensing rack which move under the influence of gravity through the slot toward the one end thereof, locating the pivotable gating member adjacent the slot to control movement of the bottles through the slot to the opening, engaging the locking member with the gating member to lock the gating member in the first position in which the gating member engages with the top portion of the next bottle to be vended to block movement of the next bottle to be vended to the opening at one end of the slot, disengaging the locking member from the gating member to unlock the gating member and allow the gating member to pivot in a first direction to a second position under the influence of the top portion of the next bottle to be vended as the next bottle to be vended slides under the influence of gravity in a downwardly direction through the slots to the opening at one end thereof, and disengaging the next bottle to be vended from the first portion of the gating member when the gating member is in its second position and the next bottle to be vended drops from the slot through the opening.
Still another provision of the present invention is to provide a vending machine for vending a plurality of bottles each of which are supported in an upright position only at the top portion of each of the bottles including a storage cabinet, a dispensing rack having at least a single elongated slot for storing and dispensing bottles from the dispensing rack which bottles each include a top portion which is engaged by and supported by the dispensing rack. The slot includes a pair of substantially parallel spaced apart side walls which terminate at one end in an opening and the side walls are spaced apart a distance which is less than the diameter of the top portion of the bottles which are supported in the elongated slot to prevent bottles from falling from the slot when bottles are supported by the side walls of the slot. Means are provided for adjusting the distance between the parallel spaced apart side walls to enable the slot to support bottles having various diameters at the top portion of the bottles. The opening in the dispensing rack is larger than the diameter of the top portion of the bottles to enable bottles which move from the slot to the opening to be dispensed from the dispensing rack. The dispensing rack is inclined from a horizontal position in a downwardly direction to enable bottles supported in the slot to move under the influence of gravity toward one end of the slot at which the opening is located. A gate member is provided for controlling movement of the bottles through the slot to the opening. The gate member is pivotable between a blocking position in which the gate member blocks movement of bottles from the slot to the opening to a dispensing position in which the gate member enables the next bottle to be vended to move from the slot to the opening to be dispensed from the dispensing rack. A locking mechanism is provided for locking the gate member to prevent the gate member from pivoting from the blocking position and a credit mechanism is connected to the locking mechanism for unlocking the locking mechanism when a credit of a predetermined value is received in the credit mechanism and the credit mechanism is actuated to unlock the locking mechanism to allow the gate member to pivot from the blocking position to the dispensing position to enable the next bottle to be vended to move from the slot to the opening to be dispensed from the dispensing rack.
Still a further provision of the present invention is to provide a new and improved machine for dispensing a plurality of bottles each of which are supported on an upright position only at the top portion of each of the bottles including a storage cabinet, a dispensing rack located in the storage cabinet having at least a single elongated slot located therein for storing and dispensing bottles from the dispensing rack which bottles each include a top portion which is engaged by and supported by the slot in the dispensing rack. The slot includes a pair of substantially parallel spaced apart side walls which terminate at one end in an opening and the spaced apart side walls are spaced apart a distance which is less than the diameter of the top portion of the bottles which are supported in the elongated slot to prevent bottles from falling from the slot when bottles are supported by the side walls of the slot. Means are provided for adjusting the distance between the parallel spaced apart side walls of the slot to enable the slot to support bottles having various diameters at the top portion of the bottles. The opening in the dispensing rack is larger than the diameter of the top portion of the bottles to enable bottles which move from the slot to the opening to fall from the dispensing rack. The dispensing rack is inclined from a horizontal position in a downwardly direction toward the opening in the dispensing rack to enable bottles supported in the slot to move under the influence of gravity toward the one end of the slot in which the opening is located. A gate member is provided for controlling movement of the bottles through the slot to the opening.